Possible peri-menopause symptoms?

[CrazyMabel]

Hi there
I just wanted to find out more about unusual symptoms that people have been experiencing due to peri-menopause.

I am 45 and I have had my FSH tested which is normal but my oestrogen levels are low.

I have been experiencing:
Tingling in my hands and feet,
Stiffness in the morning particularly in my feet
Muscle fatigue so that my body just feels a bit broken
Mild pains in my feet

I am having the odd hot flush and my periods are slightly erratic but neither of these are significant enough for me to notice without the above symptoms

I am feeling quite stressed about whether my symptoms are something more serious of if they are actually due to peri-menopause. I am wondering whether I should go and see a rheumatologist or if I should start taking hormones as suggested by the doctor!

Would really love to hear about your unusual symptoms.

Did they test anything else? Just wondering as pins and needles and muscle fatigue can be a sign of B12 deficiency.

B12 deficiency and joint pain
Vitamin B12 deficiency is very common, especially with age, and can result in a number of symptoms such as fatigue, balance problems, anemia, numbness and tingling in the extremities, and joint pain

@hardertobreathe Thanks for your message. Yes they checked for B12 and it's all normal. I have had lots of blood tests done for all the obvious stuff and everything looks normal. Have also been tested for Rheumatoid Arthritis. The doctor is now looking to go down the peri-menopause route as I am the right age (perhaps a little early) and my oestrogen is low. I am happy to start taking hormones but would feel more at ease hearing about others who are peri-menopausal and have experienced similar symptoms.

The ‘normal’ reference range for B12 is frighteningly low in this country, you can be low end of ‘normal’ but still suffer symptoms. I was fobbed off for a long time. When I finally started B12 injections, despite being normal range, my tingling, numbness, dizziness & a lot of fatigue was resolved.

I was a hormonal loon when I was peri-thankfully surgically menopause meant starting HRT. I’m like a new woman. I hope you find the answers/treatment that helps soon

Thanks again @Hardertobreathe xx
My B12 is pretty good so it’s not that.
I’m sure I’ll get to the bottom of it eventually. I feel that perhaps the stress is giving me some of my symptoms too 🤪

I've just turned 46 and for me the first sign of perimenopause, about 18 months ago, was tingling in my hands, which I got all panicked about and thought was carpal tunnel, arthritis, Parkinson's, MS, you name it. Over the next year or so I developed a load of other symptoms, including stiffness in my feet in the morning (I mean, what? So weirdly specific, right?!). I haven't had the few 'classic' symptoms at all - no night sweats or sleeping problems, no vaginal dryness or hot flushes (although my body temperature periodically goes up for days at a time - much like when you're heavily pregnant) - but the trouble with perimenopause symptoms is that there are so many of them! I'm sure you've seen this, but if not, google the 'list of 34 symptoms'...

Hi @LaMigraine
Thank you so much for your reply. This honestly makes me feel so reassured. Exactly that - stiff feet and tingling hands. Plus a few other things. But none of the standard symptoms. I am pretty sure that the stress from worrying about what on earth could be wrong with me has exacerbated much of the tingling and strange sensations.
I have chatted with another doctor who also seems to think that it all points in the direction of perimenopause, so I think I will go ahead and trial the HRT.
Are you on hormones or just living with the symptoms?

I am thinking about HRT but am still a bit wary re the possible breast cancer list (although I know that has been more or less disproved) since my mum had breast cancer in her 60s as did my maternal aunt.

For now I'm just living with it - my main, unlivable with, symptom was terrible brain fog, when I honestly thought I was getting early-onset Alzheimer's (before I knew this was a classic perimeno symptom), but weirdly primrose oil tablets - the only thing I'm currently taking - seem to have helped quite a lot with that. And I had terrible anxiety all through 2019, for which I've been on SSRIs since Feb 2020, so if that is caused by perimenopause (which again, I had no idea might be the case at the time, and my GP didn't mention the possibility, which in hindsight is a bit off) then that's being managed too.

But the multi-symptoms are a pain - even if none of them are acute, I have enough of them that combined, sometimes they feel a lot to manage. Even weird stuff like I now have really sensitive teeth (which I've NEVER had until a year ago), or the fact that I sweat much more and it smells worse than it ever did (sorry, TMI!) These are not listed symptoms, but I've no doubt they're perimeno related.

breast cancer link*, not list